Hatchling

If I've learned anything this week it's that you should always check Poundland before going crazy in the hardware shop. Consolation comes feathered in the form of this little fellow. We've been working toward a prototype figurine and, while the Tawny and Snowy version wait to be fired, the blue glazed night owl is first from the kiln.

Happy birthday, sis.

Diversion

These days it's all tracking numbers and carton dimensions, but not so long ago I'd deliver all London stockists by hand, the return route describing a wayward line taking in any number of attractions. One such attraction, Galerie Besson, is a light-filled sales space in the intricate Royal Arcade of Old Bond Street. Fortunate enough to catch the previous show, I've not yet seen the current collection of pots from 20th century innovator, Lucie Rie, chiming with the timely retrospective in Japan.



• Lucie Rie, Bottle, c. 1968, stoneware, height 34 cm
• Lucie Rie, Bowl, 1989 (from final kiln firing), stoneware, diam. 21cm
• Inger Rokkjaer, selection of raku cylinders from Three Danish Potters

Austerity Nostalgia

There's definitely something comforting in the no-nonsense authority of emergency graphics, though, if early speculation is correct, the real emergency may begin tomorrow. Cycling across town, the requisitioned buildings and bold Polling Station signs seemed to have instilled some short-lived sense of community. Perhaps it's what one critic termed 'austerity nostalgia', citing the waning craze for 'Keep Calm...' products as a symptomatic yearning for early Modernism and the Blitz spirit.

Raised by radicals, Marxism is written through my friend like a stick of rock. Her annual Mayday texts may have beaming yellow emoticons, but the sentiment of her sloganeering is undiminished. Even so, I'm not sure her cross will go in the default box next week.

• On Kawara, May 1, 1987 (from the Today series, 1966-present), liquitex on canvas, 155 x 226 cm.